


Break The Ice

by asongofhopeandjoy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Bands, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Band Fic, Bisexual Katara (Avatar), F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Flirting, Lesbian Mai (Avatar), Misunderstandings, Rivals to Lovers, UST, Zutara Secret Santa Exchange 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28296066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asongofhopeandjoy/pseuds/asongofhopeandjoy
Summary: "She remembered the day they had met like it was yesterday. She was in the school library well after closing time, looking for a copy of Little Women ‘just because’ and sang Mary J Blige’s version of ‘Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word’. When she belted out ‘And it’s getting more and more absurd’ to what she thought was an empty room, a pair of curious brown eyes peeped out at her from around the corner. After a pregnant silence the cheeky girl had asked Katara: “Hey, wanna join my band?”Joining The Dangerous Ladies helped Katara deal with her pain and grief head on, but now she's got a new problem in the form of a fiery lead singer from a rival band who can't stop putting his foot in his mouth.
Relationships: Katara & Mai (Avatar), Katara & Ty Lee (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Past Yue/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Break The Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays @reysforcee on twitter! I'm your secret santa and I heard you liked band AUs, so I decided to write this Zutara band AU that's been burning a hole in my head for a while now. 
> 
> This was meant to be a one-shot, but I didn't think I'd be able to finish this in time for Christmas, so here's chapter one, part two will be coming soon. I hope you like it!

‘I think things are finally starting to get better Yue.’  Katara gently touched the glass of the photo frame, which kept a picture of her and girlfriend before the literal moon goddess among men had passed away from cancer. She still had her white, beautiful hair back then.  _ ‘ _ Looks like there will be no more tears on my guitar.’ 

She hoped wherever Yue was, she was laughing at how cringy she was being. Preferably with Kya, drinking moon peach tea and having a good time with her friends. 

“Here’s your hot chocolate Katara!” Katara gently put Yue’s photo on the coffee table and pointed the girl’s face in the direction of the TV, before she happily accepted the drink from Ty Lee. “How’s… everything going today?” 

Katara rolled her eyes. 

Mai was right. Ty Lee was a very sweet and bubbly girl, but was about as subtle as a brick through a window. 

“You mean am I going to throw myself outside that window because I can’t stand being without Yue?” Katara almost felt guilty for making Ty Lee so flustered to the point she nearly dropped her jasmine tea, but the look on her face made the bad feelings worth it. “Ty Lee, relax!” 

“Hey!” Mai butted in - putting Ty Lee’s tea on the coffee table, gently pulling the anxious girl to sit down next to her on the loveseat and placing a tender kiss on the girl’s forehead. “You’re not allowed to bully Ty Lee. That’s  _ my _ job.” 

“Yes!” Ty Lee cried. “When Mai does it, it’s cute and sweet! When you bully me, it’s not as much fun Katara!” 

Katara nearly busted a gut after hearing that. 

"I'm so glad you pestered me into joining the band, you stupid pink acrobat.' 

She remembered the day they had met like it was yesterday. She was in the school library well after closing time, looking for a copy of Little Women ‘just because’ and sang Mary J Blige’s version of ‘Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word’. When she belted out ‘And it’s getting more and more absurd’ to what she thought was an empty room, a pair of curious brown eyes peeped out at her from around the corner. After a pregnant silence the cheeky girl had asked Katara: “Hey, wanna join my band?” 

Ty Lee got a book in the face for her trouble, but she hadn’t given up on making Katara the lead singer of The Dangerous Ladies. 

Katara was really grateful that she hadn’t given up on her. 

“I’m sorry Ty Lee.” Katara held up a plate towards her bandmate. “Here, you can have an extra sea prune cookie. Am I forgiven?” 

Mai grimaced at the way Ty Lee stuffed the baked goods into her mouth with gusto and mumbled ‘you are very much forgiven’ between each bite. 

“You’re lucky you’re cute, you know that right?” Mai rolled her eyes when Ty Lee nodded in agreement, before putting her arm around her girlfriend. “Katara, when is your brother on again?” 

“In five minutes!” Suki came from the kitchen to gleefully take a seat next to Katara, making sure she got a good view of… the TV. “I can’t believe his band got an interview with THE Zheng Yi of THE Pirates!” 

“Pfft! Big deal!” Azula, the former lead singer of The Dangerous Ladies, planted her butt next to Katara. She flicked her long black hair in the snootiest way imaginable before taking a sip of her tea. Katara would have spat ‘yes, it is a big deal’ to spite the girl and defend her brother, he had looked up to The Pirates since he was a kid so this interview was a big deal. But Katara, knowing Azula thrived off conflict, made a tactical decision to shut up and drink her hot chocolate so she could enjoy Sokka’s interview in peace. Azula would shut her mouth eventually. “I bet Jet only got that interview because he slept with their manager!” 

“Now now…” Suki leaned across Katara to pat Azula’s knee, as if she were consoling a small child who didn’t get to go on the school trip to the candy store. “We’re just getting started. I’m sure in a year, Zheng Yi will invite us to his show. Right girls?” 

Mai, Ty Lee and Katara chimed in agreement. 

“With Katara’s voice, they’ll be _ begging _ to have us on their show.” Mai sipped her tea. “Sokka will be kicking himself for letting Katara leave The Giant Friendly Mushrooms.” 

Azula growled at the goth girl in her little corner, contrasting sharply with the lead singer who was  _ beaming  _ at Mai’s compliment. 

Katara did wonder what life would be like if she had listened to her brother’s pleas and had stayed with TGFMs while she was grieving for Yue, especially since she had been um… thinking a lot about the band’s newest member. 

But she had no regrets about joining The Dangerous Ladies. 

“Guys!” Ty Lee pointed at the TV screen. “Speak of the devil!” 

“Shut up everyone!” Katara cried, nearly spilling her hot chocolate as she watched Sokka throw peace signs at a cheering audience, followed by Jet blowing kisses to his adoring fans, Aang shyly waving at the crowd and Zuko grumpily trailing behind all of them. “My brother’s on TV!” 

“And so is mine…” Azula sighed, looked into her empty cup. “We got any alcohol hidden away somewhere in this apartment?” 

“No.” Mai not so subtly pushed her secret stash of hooch under the sofa. 

Katara watched with anticipation as the interview host known as Zheng Yi, a chubby old man wearing a pirate hat only he could pull off, greeted the boys and sat them down for some pirate whiskey (Aang pouted when Zheng Yi passed him some sparkling lemonade because he was still underage). She nearly peed when Sokka had failed to answer his name, too in awe of his idol and needing Jet to pinch him to bring him back down to earth.

Zheng Yi asked a lot of interesting questions which kept the audience engaged - “Why did you want to start a band?”, “How did you meet each other?” and “have they ever tried Cactus Juice?” It was fun to watch Sokka sweat through the last question because he had to come up with a convincing false backstory for how he came up with the name ‘The Giant Friendly Mushrooms’ without revealing that he had indeed tasted that sweet but illegal nectar. It was even funnier when Sokka elbowed Jet in the stomach for laughing when he said mushrooms were his favourite food. 

Aang took this as an opportunity to change the subject to how he scouted Zuko, saving Sokka and Jet from getting in trouble with their manager, but unintentionally putting Katara in danger. The girl took a long sip of her hot chocolate in an attempt to ignore how her heart skipped a beat when Aang sing-songed: “I caught him singing about a girl~”

“No I was not!” Zuko barked at Aang, looking like he was ready to pounce on the young drummer. 

“Yes you were!” Aang whispered conspiratively into Zheng Yi’s ear, but made sure he was loud enough for the audience to hear the hot gossip. “He was waxing poetry about her pretty blue ocean eyes~”

“So I guess his fangirls are out of luck, aren’t they?” Aang and Zheng Yi tee-hee’d at Zuko’s expense, while the young man in question screamed bloody murder in the background. This got a good laugh from the audience and even a smile from Azula, who had been bitterly complaining about having to watch this interview sober. 

The interview was going really well, until Zheng Yi asked his next question: “I hear ye have a sister who is also in the music biz! She brought the house down at The North Pole coffee house, am I right?” 

Katara blushed when the crowd started cheering. Zheng Yi was talking about the first gig she had ever performed live and how she had bared her soul not only to some of her closest friends and family, but to everyone who watched The Dangerous Ladies youtube channel. She had no idea that so many of Sokka’s fans also liked her music. 

“She sure did and I’m super proud of her!” Sokka started ranting on and on about how Katara had the voice of an angel and was a super talented songwriter, knowing it would embarrass the hell out of her. She was gonna kick him in the shin when he got home! 

“Are ye not worried Katara is gonna outshine ye lad?” Zheng Yi asked, fishing for more gossip and drama, like a hound hungry for controversy. 

“Nope! I love my sister and the stage is big enough for the both of us!” 

“Sokka, stop!” Katara wanted to dig a hole in the ground and hide in it forever when Mai and Ty Lee started raising their cups to her and Suki started dabbing her teary eyes with tissues. Katara was almost thankful that Azula was sitting in her corner, quietly gagging and making vomiting noises to show her hatred for anything and everything sentimental. 

“What about you lad?” When Zheng Yi directed his attention towards Zuko, Katara felt her heart drop into her stomach. “What do ye think of the fine young lassie? I heard it through the grapevine you two are very close.”

On a big screen behind The Giant Friendly Mushrooms, Zheng Yi showed a scandalous instagram photo of Zuko hugging Katara after her first ever live performance. Sokka’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the image, while Aang nearly dropped his lemonade. Jet, being the scoundrel he was, simply nodded his head in approval and whispered to Zuko: ‘Nice work lover boy.’ 

“Oh no!” Katara buried her face in her hands as Zheng Yi’s audience cried ‘ooooooh!’ and threw in a few extra wolf whistles just to make sure she was completely mortified. Azula could vaguely be heard muttering: “Now I’m really gonna be sick!” in the background. 

Katara remembered the night that photo was taken well. She was emotionally drained and exhausted from singing ‘Ode To Yue’ and the moment she saw Zuko backstage, she flung herself into his arms and muttered a quiet ‘thank you’ into his neck. If he hadn’t goaded her into going on that stage, she might have never got to properly say goodbye to Yue. 

She could see how the photo looked romantic to people who didn’t know her or Zuko. She still got hot and bothered thinking about how Zuko returned the hug, wrapping his big strong arms around her and whispering ‘Don’t thank me, it was all you’ as he stroked the back of her head. 

Katara didn’t want to admit it at the time, but that hug made her feel safe and protected in a way that she hadn’t felt since Yue passed away, which was why Suki and Azula had to come pry her away from Zuko. If the girls hadn’t done that, she wasn’t sure what might have happened that night. 

Katara smacked her right cheek. 

Zuko had made her feel special… but that didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t mean anything. Katara couldn’t betray Yue. And Zuko made it crystal clear that his feelings for Katara were one hundred percent platonic: 

“It’s not like that!” Zuko cried, his cheeks glowing dark red. “I was just being nice because Katara was really nervous about her first performance!” 

“Oh really?” Zheng Yi cooed. “Sure you weren’t white knighting so that she might start writing songs about you, if you catch my drift?” 

Zuko growled as the audience hooted and hollered at Zheng Yi’s suggestive, unfunny joke. Katara gripped her cup so hard that Ty Lee was worried she was going to break it into tiny little pieces. 

“Don’t be stupid!” Zuko snarled. “Katara is just another musician and hardly a threat to us.” 

That was the first arrow Zuko shot to Katara’s heart. 

Mai, Ty Lee, Suki and Azula all looked at Katara, trying to gauge how that comment made her feel. 

“She’s a good performer, but she just doesn’t have the range that we do.” 

That was the second arrow. 

Katara put down her mug of hot chocolate in a quiet, eerie manner which worried the other girls. 

“What do you mean she doesn’t have the range?!!” Sokka yelled, nearly busting out of his chair to go confront the other man. Thankfully Jet had the upper body strength to pull the Water Tribe boy back and keep him separated from Zuko. 

If Katara’s ears weren’t ringing inside her head, she would have thanked her brother through the screen for defending her honour. 

Zuko raised his arms defensively, the pained expression on his face saying he had realised his mistake: “I just mean she’s a soul singer! She sings sad love songs and that’s what she’s good at!” 

Katara snorted. Of course Zuko would pick up on the thing she was most insecure about after her first live performance. Of course this would be the third arrow he’d shoot right into her chest. 

“I don’t consider her to be a threat because her style is different from ours. She’s sweet and innocent, we’re rock and roll. That’s all!” 

‘I don’t respect you. I don’t see you as a musical equal. I just felt sorry for you.’ Was all Katara could hear, and was the final and fourth arrow Zuko shot through Katara’s heart - killing any faith she had in him before now.

“That complete moo-sow!” Ty Lee threw her peanuts at the TV screen. “Zuko I am so disappointed in you!” 

“Aaaand I’m officially embarrassed to have ever dated this jerk.” Mai admitted as she started spicing up her tea with her secret stash of hooch. 

“Oh Zuzu.” Azula massaged her temples. “I never thought that even you could sink this low.” 

“Katara?” Oh boy. The last thing Katara wanted right now was pity, but she was frozen still in her seat when Suki softly touched her shoulder and said: “I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way. He just didn’t want people spreading rumours about you.” 

‘Yeah because people thinking he might have a crush on me is the worst thing in the world.’ Katara sullenly looked at her picture of Yue, her songwriting notebook and the fountain pen her dad gave her to ‘wish her luck in her new music career.’ ‘Well it’s a good thing I have a constructive outlet for all this rage I’m feeling.’ 

One thing Yue always told Katara after she got into fights with the neighbourhood kids was “Don’t be mad Katara… get even!” 

Katara smiled, hoping Yue would be proud of her for taking their advice.

“Oh no…” Katara said as she pressed a kiss to her finger tip and touched Yue’s picture, before grabbing all her stuff and retreating into her bedroom. “It’s fine. I’ll show him. I’ll show them all at our next gig.” 


End file.
